Moeraki take 2!

Yawn!  
Alarm bleeped at me at 4.45am.  No rain on the roof and a quick peep outside told me it should all be good to go for the sunrise-over-the-boulders shoot.  The only problem - quite a big one really - I'd 'played' with last nights shots until well after midnight so had had a bare four and a half hours sleep.  No too surprisingly, I nodded off again.....  Luckily, I know how I work and had set a 'safety net' alarm which re-woke me 15 minutes later.  It was a struggle, but I managed to get out of bed, pack up the van and drive to the Boulders with sufficient time for set-up before the 5.56am sunrise.  I was more than a tad surprised to find another half a dozen photographers already set up and waiting by the time I got there.  My cheery "Good morning" as I joined them was met with near silence.  Just 2 people mumbled a reply.  Maybe they'd all had a late night too?

Now, despite me not being a morning person at all, I have to confess that I spent the most wonderful time down there.  It was only seventy five minutes, but it felt like a whole new 'day'.  Prompted me to think about why I don't do mornings more often?  The only answer I came up with was to identify those critical mili-seconds between comfort and discomfort....the decision to get up......the decision to change from the warmth of bed to the coolness of the new day......the decision to change......

Headed further along the coast to a beautiful, open, wind-swept area and parked up for breakfast (and to catch up on a few blips too!).  I'd arranged to meet with rainie when I got to Timaru and the drive became a meandering, peaceful, and thought-provoking one.  The coast area between Palmerston (yesterday) and Timaru (today) is absolutely stunning.  I could easily see myself down here and staying longer to explore and enjoy it more.  I even think I could manage a whole week of sunrise-over-the-Boulders shots just to get a range of results.  Something to add to the retirement plan......

Stopped in at Christchurch to make contact with F who, it turns out, is back in Nelson already :)  Look forward to catching up when I return.

Staying tonight at Amberley Beach so I can head off early-ish to Kaikoura tomorrow.  I'm sure that I'm going to want to stop and photograph in many places (if it's allowed and if I'm not 'hurried along' by road crews.  It feels kind of odd planning to spend a few days in an active quake region, but if visiting Kaikoura and spending some time and money there will help the residents to get back on their feet, I'm very happy to do it.  It's even crosssed my mind I may go out whale watching.........take note F!!!!